Judge temporarily halts deportations of parents separated from children

An El Salvadoran woman and her 6-year-old daughter were reunited in Houston early Friday morning as part of the court-ordered reunification of separated migrant families. (July 13)
AP

Alison Jimena Valencia Madrid, 6, left, leans in for a kiss from her mother, Cindy Alinette Madrid-Henriquez, during a news conference on July 13, 2018, in Houston. They were reunited earlier in the day after being separated more than a month because of Trump administration policies.(Photo: Casey Jackson, Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller Times)

U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw said Monday he's become "exasperated" by the Trump administration's slow work to reunify more than 2,600 children separated from their parents, and he ordered the government to halt all deportations of parents for at least a week.

Sabraw scolded the Department of Health and Human Services for taking so long to reunite children in its care with their parents held in separate government facilities. The judge responded to a court filing by Chris Meekins, a senior HHS official who wrote that the judge's order requiring accelerated reunifications was leading to "increased risks to child welfare."

Sabraw tore into Meekins during a court hearing in San Diego on Monday, saying his claims were "deeply troubling" and "completely unhelpful" to what had been a mutual spirit of good faith between the two sides. The judge said Meekins' filing appeared to represent an effort to deflect blame for any damage caused to children as a result of the government's family separation policy.

Sabraw made clear Monday that HHS is a defendant in the case, and the judge ordered the agency to look out for the welfare of children by reuniting them with their parents.

"It is failing in this context," he said.

Monday's hearing was the latest step in the legal battle over the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" policy, under which parents charged with criminal violations for illegally entering the country are separated from their children.

Sabraw deemed that policy a possible violation of the immigrants' due process rights and ordered the administration to reunify all children within 30 days. The first group – children under age 5 – were finished last week when the government reunited 57 children with their parents. The government faces a deadline of July 26 to reunite the remaining 2,551 minors, ages 5 to 17, with their parents.

Officials with HHS, which cares for the children after they are separated from their parents, said those deadlines don't leave them with enough time to go through the rigorous screening process of each parent as required by the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.

Meekins wrote that efforts to reunify the youngest children proved the value of those screening processes as officials found out some adults lied about being parents of children and others were found to have dangerous criminal backgrounds that would have placed the children at risk.

Sabraw said that the safety of each child is paramount but that those kinds of determinations can be made more quickly. He accused the government of trying to stretch it out "for months" at a time.

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Lee Gelernt, who led a lawsuit against the family separations, accused the administration of preparing a fast-track deportation process for parents shortly after they're reunited with their children. The government gives reunited parents the option of being deported with their children or being deported alone while leaving their children in the USA to make their own claim to stay in the country.

Sabraw said he wanted more information about that accusation and asked the government to give him a full briefing by July 23. Until then, Sabraw ordered a stay on all deportations of parents who have been reunited with their children.

Department of Justice attorney Sarah Fabian told the judge that halting deportations could affect the government’s ability to maintain its pace of reunifications. She said there is a limited number of detention facilities where families can be held together and said they may fill up as deportations are on hold.

Sabraw said that is no excuse to stop or slow down reunifications.

“That is not an option,” he said. “The government will have to make space.”

HHS officials provided Sabraw with an update on the number of children they said need to be reunited with their parents. After reuniting 57 children under age 5, it identified 2,551 minors ages 5 to 17 who need to be reunited. Of those, the government said it could not locate the parents of 71 of those children.

A Justice attorney finished Monday’s hearing by inviting Sabraw to tour one of the facilities where children are held as they await reunification with their parents. Sabraw said he appreciated the offer but declined, explaining that he’d rather focus on speeding up reunifications rather than observing the children’s living conditions.

"The concern that has been at issue is simply the passage of time," he said. "No matter how nice the environment is, it's the act of separation from a parent, particularly young children, that matters."